Suicide Squad Holds Off Sausage Party at the Box Office

Last weekend, Warner Bros. Suicide Squad still managed to break box office records, despite David Ayer's controversial remarks and a spate of negative reviews. This DC Comics adaptation took in $133.6 million in its opening weekend, the biggest August debut in history, shattering the previous record set by Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy ($94.3 million) two years ago. Still, many wondered how much the movie would drop in its second weekend, going up against a diverse trio of new releases, Disney's family adventure Pete's Dragon, Sony's R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party and Paramount's inspiring drama Florence Foster Jenkins. While it came in far below expectations, Suicide Squad still managed to win with $43.7 million.

Suicide Squad's $133.6 million made it the fourth-highest opening of the year. The debut falls below Marvel's Captain America: Civil War ($179.1 million), Warner Bros./DC's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million) and Disney Pixar's Finding Dory ($135 million). Disney Pixar's Finding Dory is still the highest-grossing domestic release this year so far, with $473.8 million, and the R-rated Deadpool lands in the fifth highest debut spot with $132.4 million. Box Office Mojo reports that Suicide Squad dropped a monstrous 67.3% in its second weekend with $43.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $222.8 million, from a $175 million budget.

Unlike last weekend, all of the new releases are heading into their debuts with rave reviews. Florence Foster Jenkins is sporting an impressive 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, followed by Sausage Party with 82% on RT and Pete's Dragon with 86%. Last weekend's newcomers, Suicide Squad (26%) and Nine Lives (4%) were demolished by the critics before their debut in theaters, but these positive reviews couldn't push any of these new released past the critically-panned Suicide Squad. Sausage Party debuted in second place with an impressive $33.6 million, followed by Pete's Dragon in third place with $21.5 million while Florence Foster Jeknins debuted in eighth place with $6.5 million.

The 67.3% drop for this Task Force X adventure is just slightly lower than the second-weekend drop for this spring's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. After opening with a whopping $166.1 million in March, it dropped a massive 69.1% in its second weekend, although it still managed to take the top spot with $51.3 million. Suicide Squad still had the highest theater count with 4,255, with Pete's Dragon opening in 3.702 theaters, Sausage Party debuting in 3,103 theaters and Florence Foster Jeknins arriving in 1,528 theaters. The top 5 is rounded out by Jason Bourne ($13.6 million) and Bad Moms ($11.4 million), both of which posted impressively minimal decreases of 39.2% and 18.2%, respectively.

Pete's Dragon is a remake of Disney's beloved 1977 classic that featured a hybrid of live action and animated elements. For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales...until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete's descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham's stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.

Sausage Party is a raunchy animated movie about one sausage's quest to discover the truth about his existence. After falling out of a shopping cart, our hero sausage and his new friends embark on a perilous journey through the supermarket to get back to their aisles before the 4th of July sale. The stellar voice cast is lead by Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and James Franco, also featuring Edward Norton, Michael Cera, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Kristen Wiig and Salma Hayek.

Set in 1940s New York, Florence Foster Jenkins is the true story of the legendary New York heiress and socialite (Meryl Streep) who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great singer. The voice she heard in her head was beautiful, but to everyone else it was hilariously awful. Her "husband" and manager, St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant), an aristocratic English actor, was determined to protect his beloved Florence from the truth. But when Florence decided to give a public concert at Carnegie Hall, St. Clair knew he faced his greatest challenge.

The top 10 is rounded out by The Secret Life of Pets ($8.8 million), Star Trek Beyond ($6.8 million), Florence Foster Jenkins ($6.5 million), Nine Lives ($3.5 million) and Lights Out ($3.2 million). Also opening in limited release this weekend Bleecker Street's Anthropoid, which earned $1.2 million from 452 theaters for a meager $2,684 per-screen average. Lionsgate's Hell or High Water earned $592,000 from 32 theaters for an impressive $18,500 per-screen average, while The Orchard's Ghost Team took in $9,205 from 10 theaters for a dismal $921 per-screen average. No box office data was released for Independent's Beyond Valkyrie: Dawn of the Fourth Reich and Edge of Winter, GVN Releasing's The Fight Within, Brainstorm Media's The Model, CJ Entertainment's Operation Chromite, Film Movement's My King and Abramorama's The Girl of the Golden West.

Looking ahead to next weekend, three more wildly different movies hit theaters as the summer movie season winds down. Warner Bros. will release War Dogs, starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller, while Focus Features will unveil their animated adventure Kubo and the Two Strings alongside Paramount's epic remake of Ben-Hur. Also debuting in limited release is Independent's Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy: XV, Distrib Films' Down By Love and The Student and Mr. Henri, Magnolia's Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, Music Box Films' Mia Madre, A24's Morris From America, Cohen Media Group's The People Vs. Fritz Bauer and Strand's Spa Night. Be sure to check back on Sunday for the box office estimates, and again on Tuesday for next week's predictions. Until then, take a look at the top 10 estimates the weekend of August 12.